America Urged to Devise 'Marshall Plan' for Asia

by David Usborne

As American Sea Hawk helicopters began ferrying emergency supplies to the
stricken coastal communities of Aceh on the island of Sumatra at the
weekend, voices were being raised in the United States for a longer-term
engagement in the area to rebuild lost political goodwill.

There is already talk of an updated "Marshall plan" for Asia, similar to the
post-war aid for Europe, that would save lives and repair America's tattered
reputation across the world.

The helicopters, from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier anchored
close to Sumatra, were the first harbingers of the largest deployment of
American military hardware in the region since the Vietnam War. Scores of US
vessels and aircraft loaded with emergency supplies and equipment are
heading for areas worst hit by the Boxing Day tsunami from points around the
globe.

But America's humanitarian response to the tragedy, which has been ratcheted
up rapidly in recent days after an early impression was created of
superpower stinginess, was already being described as something much more, a
mission to repair relations with the region severely strained since the
invasion of Iraq and demonstrate its willingness to use its military might
as a force for good.

Foreign affairs analysts said Washington had the chance to reverse a
perception held in much of the rest of the world that its global priorities
under President George Bush extend no further than combating terrorism and
overthrowing dictators. They said the US, by showing a beneficent side of
its power, could advance the fight against terrorism by winning back the
hearts and minds of populations in India, Thailand, Somalia and in
Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic democracy. . . .